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České Budějovice, 7th September 2018 – This afternoon, Budweiser Budvar’s brewing house experienced a liturgical ceremony of the blessing of a special batch of pale lager, which was performed by Mons. Vlastimil Kročil, Bishop of České Budějovice. This beer is primarily intended to raise funds for charitable purposes. The joint project by the Roman Catholic Diocese of České Budějovice and the Budweiser Budvar Brewery is to support social services and more effective assistance to the clients of the Diocesan Charity established by the diocese, and at the same time to stimulate the general public to contribute to this purpose. The Town of České Budějovice, the Region of South Bohemia and the Embassy of the Czech Republic to the Holy See provided the project with significant support.

"The Blessed Beer will be drawn by volunteers on the square in České Budějovice during the Advent Market. The volunteers will include people from the brewery, the diocese, the town hall and the charity, and perhaps other personalities from our town and region. The profit from the sale will be donated to the Diocesan Charity of České Budějovice,” says Petr Dvořák, Budweiser Budvar’s managing director. "We would like to send part of the blessed batch in hand-packed bottles again as a gift to Pope Francis,” adds Petr Dvořák.

“This will be the second time I will give a benediction to an extraordinary batch of České Budějovice beer, so I can follow in the past year’s event, which was met with great appreciation. Nonetheless, this year's batch is exceptional, as its ultimate goal will be our joint effort to encourage more efficient help and service provided by our Diocesan Charity of České Budějovice to our clients. The Blessed Beer will be offered during the Advent Market with a goal to manage to involve all people of good will in this charity project along with the brewery as well as the municipal and regional governments. This initiative can help develop good relations between all the partners involved - especially the church, the town, the region, the brewery, the charity and the Embassy of the Czech Republic to the Holy See. Therefore I really appreciate this joint work,” said Mons. Vlastimil Kročil, Bishop of České Budějovice, before the ceremony.

The “Blessed Beer” was brewed using the same recipe as Budweiser Budvar Premium Lager, which ranks amongst the most famous products from České Budějovice in the world - it is known to consumers in almost 80 countries, participating in Czech beer exports by one fifth.